The Representation of the Feminine, Feminist and Musical Subject in Popular Music Culture
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2001 The eprr esentation of the feminine, feminist and musical subject in popular music culture Emma Mayhew University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Mayhew, Emma, The er presentation of the feminine, feminist and musical subject in popular music culture, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong, 2001. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1743 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] THE REPRESENTATION OF THE FEMININE, FEMINIST AND MUSICAL SUBJECT IN POPULAR MUSIC CULTURE A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONONG By EMMA MAYEW B.A. (Hons) ARTS FACULTY 2001 CERTIFICATION I, Emma Mayhew, declare that this thesis, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, at the University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Emma Mayhew 18 August 2001 CHAPTER TWO FEMINIST POSTSTRUCTURALISM, THE POPULAR MUSICAL TEXT AND THE AUDIENCE - THEORETICAL DEBATES 58 Introduction 58 General Concepts and Debates 58 Discourse, Power and Agency 62 Patriarchy and Power 72 Theorising Music as Social Text 74 Musical Discourses and Power 78 Feminism , a Female Aesthetic, and Representation 81 Theorising the Audience: Texts, Readers and Producers 88 Conclusion 94 CHAPTER THREE FEMININITY PART 1 - PATRIARCHAL POSITIONINGS 96 Introduction 96 Femininity: Subjectivities, Discourses and Divides 96 FemmeFatale/Whore 10 0 Mother 112 Child/Girl 118 Androgyny and the Drag Performance 126 Conclusion 132 CHAPTER FOUR FEMININITY PART 2 - 'FEMININE' VOICES 134 Introduction 13 4 Gender and Genre 135 Femininity and Vocality - Divas and Discourse 140 Divas - Feminine Excess, Feminine Strength 144 The Guitarist and the Construction of the Masculine Subject 162 Conclusion. 168 ii CHAPTER FIVE FEMINISM PART 1 - FEMINIST IDENTITY, REPRESENTATIONS AND CONSTRUCTIONS 170 Introduction 170 Popular Debates and Feminism in the 1990s 171 Music Press: Representation of Feminism and the Feminist Subject 174 Postfeminism/Postfeminists 177 Women in Rock/Pop 180 Riot Grrrls/Rebel Grrrls 184 Angry Women 189 Girl Power 193 Strategies of Identification and Practice 196 Fan Talk 202 Conclusion 206 CHAPTER SIX FEMINISM PART 2: FEMINIST VOICES, FEMINIST DIVAS 207 Introduction 207 Representing Feminist Genres 209 Representing Feminist Divas 216 Conclusion 241 CHAPTER SEVEN MUSICAL SUBJECTIVITY 243 Introduction 243 Valuing Musicality 244 Authorship 247 Individuality 260 Originality 262 Honesty 266 Non-Commercial Interests 271 Conclusion 275 iii CONCLUSION - Singing a New Song? 277 APPENDIX A - Performer Biographies 289 APPENDIX B - Usenet Groups, Mailing Lists, Websites 295 BIBLIOGRAPHY 302 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the supervision of Ellie Vasta, in particular for encouraging me to consider doing a PhD in the first place, an option that I would never have chosen without her belief in my ability. Also I would like to Dr Andrew Wells for getting me over the line and making me believe that it was possible. Colleagues to thank include Gillian Vogl who has become a friend and un- judgemental listener, as well as Mary Medley (soon to be Dr) for great conversations and providing me with the motivation to finish. The dear Dr Frank Hayes who had such belief in me as both a student and human being -1 miss you. Dr Rose Melville for pointing me in the right direction when I needed it. Thanks also to a various assortment of friends, academic and postgraduate collegues, both old and new, who have provided me with inspiration, kindness, practical support, advice and lively discussions over the years including: Rebecca Albury, Terry Pickkett, Jonathan Dobinson, Jacqui Besgrove, Angela Pratt, Melanie Swalwell, Dr Fiona Borthwick, Colleen McGloin, Luke Thompson, and Kristy Newman. I wish also to acknowledge my family for their quiet support. In particular my mother for providing me with a feminist consciousness at a very early age. My father for material support in times of hardship and for never judging the choices I have made. To my sister for a great friendship and whose musical talent as guitarist, and all-round rocker, I will always admire. You are living proof of the female challenges to the patriarchal positionings discussed in this thesis. To my brother, our afternoons of listening and singing along to our v favourite records remain a loving memory and have provided a long term interest in popular musical experience from the fans point-of-view. Finally a big thank you to Adam Vose for his support, patience and love. VI DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to Belinda Dean and all other amateur female rock musicians who have worked and contributed to local band cultures and who have been role models for women and girls in their local communities. vii SYNOPSIS The world of commercial popular music has been dominated by patriarchal representations of women and interpretations of female performance. This is certainly true even with the commercial success of female musical stars like Madonna and Alanis Morissette in the global marketplace. This thesis argues that women are still understood in terms of patriarchal categories and stereotypes within the mainstream music press. The femme fatale, androgyne, the little girl, the mother figure and the temperamental diva are all contemporary icons of feminine performance both visually and sonically. In particular this thesis analyses the popular music print media and the way the music critic's voice continues to mobilise the musical subject as masculine in character. However, it is also argued that the identities of the feminine, feminist and musical female subject are negotiated through contradictory social discourses which provide alternative spaces for the interpretation of women's musical performances. The singer's voice, depending upon the meanings attached to the singer's vocal style and lyrical perspective, can be identified with many different subject positions including outspoken rebel, commercial siren seductress and/or creative individualist. Furthermore, different groups and individuals apply, to their reading of female musical stars, various criteria on which to judge and interpret the musical celebrity text. Ten female performer are examined through media representations and internet fan talk to analyse the contradictions, inconsistencies and power of dominant and competing narratives in the media to position, undermine and celebrate the performances of popular musical women. viii INTRODUCTION Background and Focus This thesis explores the representation of female subjectivity in the context of popular music culture. It analyses the representation of female musical performers through three subject positions - the feminine, the feminist and the musical performer - via discourses of gender (femininity), the political subject (feminist) and the creative subject (musical performer). It discusses the way fernininity, feminism and female musicality are represented, constructed and deconstructed by the popular music press and by the internet fans of these performers and traces some of the struggles over meaning. These struggles are understood through a feminist poststructuralist position which questions how patriarchal power relations deploy discourses and practices to represent female subjectivity. My interest in popular music and female performers comes from both the pleasure derived from listening/viewing popular female musical artists and from a frustration at the position of women in the music industry at all levels. One only has to look at the mainstream media to gauge, in quantifiable terms, the inequality between men and women in terms of access to and participation in music production, performance and the constructed media representations of 'credible' creative status. This pattern of exclusion, as well as devalued representations, is reflected in many 'best of lists which perennially appear in the music press. For example, counting up the male/female mix of performers 1 in Rolling Stone's 1997 list of definitive "...best albums ever made...", covering artists and groups from the 1950s to the 1990s, female solo artists make up only ten percent of the total albums listed. If gender-mixed bands are added to this percentage, the number rises to twenty percent of all the acts listed being either female performers or bands with female members (McGee, DeCurtis, Coleman, Robbins, Ali, 1997:48-79).x This simple content analysis shows the quantifiable inequalities of women's place in rock music both in terms of access and in the construction of musical artistic values.2 It also confirms a continuing need for feminist research into areas of popular culture which marginalise female participation and the creative value of female performances. Female performers have seen global commercial success in the 1990s, with this success often being represented as an indication of growing equality between men and women in the public world of popular culture performance. It has certainly been a trend since the 1990s to interpret the growing commercial success of women performers as representing a new era of equality in